The present invention relates generally to a closet storage arrangement. More particularly, it concerns an upright shoe rack in a closet having at least one clothes hanging bar.
Conventional closet storage arrangements, in even the costliest new housing, serve the builder rather than the occupant. Wooden cleats are fastened to side walls and a back wall of the closet so that a wooden clothes pole, which is laterally suspended across the closet, will be approximately sixty-five inches above the closet floor thereby accommodating the longest garments conventionally made. A wooden shelf is rested on the cleats above the pole. Since wood will sag under any kind of load in approximately a thirty inch span, a bracket is attached to the rear wall at intervals to support both the pole and the shelf. The whole arrangement is relatively inexpensive to install but results in a large amount of wasted space in a closet at a time when the size of many persons' wardrobes has greatly expanded.
More and more people are finding that the storage space in a conventional closet is inadequate for their needs since more garment hanging space and more shoe storage space is desired to hold larger wardrobes. In a conventional closet, the many pairs of shoes that most people now own are just jumbled in a pile. Thus a convenient shoe storage structure in a closet would be desirable for the large variety of shoes ranging from sneakers to hiking boots that many people own.
Many people also find that it would be useful to have more garment hanging space than a conventional closet provides. Also, it is sometimes difficult to slide the garment hangers on a wooden clothes pole because the garment hangers bind on the pole. Thus a closet with more garment hanging space and a clothes pole or hang bar with a smoother surface would be desirable.
To make a more effective use of existing closet space the garment hanging space may be expanded through the use of more clothes poles or bars. A kit having a plurality of supportive bars, intersection connectors holding together two mutually perpendicular supportive bars and end connectors which may be mounted to a vertical or horizontal surface is known to the prior art. Each of the supporting bars includes an inner cylindrical tube which is telescopically received in an outer cylindrical tube. A plurality of horizontal clothes bars are connected at one end to a side wall of the closet and are expanded until the other ends of the bars either meet the other end of the closet or a vertically aligned bar. The vertical bar, which is secured between a floor of the closet and a closet shelf by end connectors is attached to these horizontal bars by the intersection connectors. It would be desirable, however, to have a closet arrangement that does not need a complex assortments of intersection connectors, end connectors and telescoping bars. It would also be desirable to have a closet arrangement providing for vertical storage of a plurality of pairs of shoes.
A closet arrangement provided with a plurality of U-shaped brackets providing garment support and support for horizontal shelves is also known to the prior art. Each U-shaped bracket has an upper and a lower hollow tubular leg which may be telescopically adjustable. The ends of the bracket are fixed to a side wall of the closet. Each of the brackets is supported by a vertical post which is secured to the floor of the closet. Interposed between the two brackets may be a plurality of spacers which can serve as supports for a plurality of shelves with the spacers being secured at each end to a respective bracket. It would be desirable, however, to have a closet arrangement that does not need a complex assortment of brackets, spacers, vertical supports, shelving and connectors in a closet arrangement. It would also be useful to provide a closet arrangement that substantially increases the lateral hangbar space available for hanging clothes over that available in a conventional closet.
Accordingly, a closet storage arrangement according to the present invention includes a shoe case having two substantially vertical plane side walls in spaced parallel relation resting on a closet floor. A plurality of support members connect the two side walls and define a plurality of tiers for storing shoes between the side walls. Each tier includes a rear support member, and two forward support members both spaced vertically below the rear support member, the two forward support members being horizontally spaced. At least one bar for supporting clothes on hangers may also be provided with the bar extending between and secured at each end to a stilt member which rests on the closet floor and is braced against a back wall of the closet. A top shelf is normally supported above the stilt members. A peg rack may also be provided for hanging articles with the peg rack being secured to either a closet wall or a closet door. The peg rack includes a plurality of individually removable peg members with each peg member fitting into an aperture in a substantially horizontally extending board. Each peg is selectively removable to allow more room for an item hung from a remaining peg.